What's new on this site: September-December 2005

For more details, with links, of the latest batch of updates, see the
update page.

4 December 2005:

New links

A brief guide to medieval English genealogy:

Introduction:

Richard Sims A Manual for the Genealogist, Topographer, Antiquary, and Legal Professor (1856) (Google Book Search)
A guide to records, with an emphasis on the medieval period. Inevitably it is now very dated, but still useful in some respects.

Public records: Domesday Book:

Domesday Book or the Great Survey of England of William the Conqueror A.D. 1086. Fac-simile of the part relating to Essex (1862) (Google Book Search)

Public records: Common law records:

H. Brunner The Sources of the Law of England. An Historical Introduction to the Study of English Law (1888) (Google Book Search)
Translated from the German by W. Hastie.

Frederick Pollock and Frederic William Maitland The history of English law before the time of Edward I (1898) (Google Book Search)
Second edition, volume 1 of 2, containing a sketch of English legal history, a discussion of tenure, the "sorts and conditions of men" and jurisdiction. This provides very useful background material for the interpretation of medieval records.

Frederick Pollock and Frederic William Maitland The history of English law before the time of Edward I (1898) (Google Book Search)
Second edition, volume 2 of 2, covering land, goods, contracts, inheritance, wills, marriage, criminal law and legal procedure. This provides very useful background material for the interpretation of medieval records.

Public records: Chancery rolls:

Thomas Duffus Hardy A Description of the Close Rolls in the Tower of London, with an account of the early courts of law and equity, and various historical illustrations (1833) (Google Book Search)
Introduction to the first volume of the Record Commission's transcripts of the close rolls

Miscellaneous sources:

Mary Bateson Borough Customs (1904) (Google Book Search)
Selden Society number 21. Volume 2 of 2. Latin and French transcripts of borough custumals, with English translations, to illustratecourt rules, seignorial and family law, ecclesiastical relations etc.

Charles Gross The Gild Merchant: a contribution to British Municipal History (1890) (Google Book Search)

Medieval source material on the Internet:

Medieval and early modern texts: by author, A-G:

Francis Charles Hingeston, ed. The Chronicle of England by John Capgrave (1858) (Google Book Search)
Rolls Series, number 1. English text.

James Gairdner The historical collections of a citizen of London in the fifteenth century. (1876) (Google Book Search)
Royal Historical Society, Camden Society, new series, volume 17. Containing: I: John Page's poem on the siege of Rouen. II: Lydgate's verses on the kings of England. III: William Gregory's chronicle of London [to 1469].

Medieval and early modern texts: by author, H-N:

John Glover, ed., Le livere de reis de Brittanie e le livere de reis de Engletere [attributed to Peter of Ickham] (1865) (Google Book Search)
Rolls Series number 42. French text and English translation.

Anthony Nixon The Three English Brothers. Sir Thomas Sherley his Travels, with his three yeares imprisonment in Turkie ... (1607) (Google Book Search)
An account of the adventures of the privateer Sir Thomas Sherley [Shirley] in the early 17th century.

Edward Edwards, ed., Liber Monasterii de Hyda; comprising a chronicle of the affairs of England, ... to the reign of King Cnut, and a chartulary of the abbey of Hyde, in Hampshire, A. D. 455-1023 (1866) (Google Book Search)
Rolls Series number 45. Latin text.

History:

Louise Creighton Social History of England (1887) (Google Book Search)

Charles I. Elton The Tenures of Kent (1867) (Google Book Search)
A study of the history of land tenure in Kent, with special reference to gavelkind, a form of tenure in which lands were divided between sons rather than passing to the eldest.

J. A. Picton Memorials of Liverpool [Lancashire], historical and topographical, including a history of the dock estate (1875) (Google Book Search)
Volume 2 of 2 (topographical).

Ramsay Muir A History of Liverpool [Lancashire] (1907) (Google Book Search)

Ramsay Muir and Edith M. Platt A history of municipal government in Liverpool [Lancashire] from the earliest times to the Municipal Reform Act of 1835 (1906) (Google Book Search)
Narrative introduction, with a collection of charters, leases, etc, transcribed and translated.

E. T. Cook Highways and Byways in London (1903) (Google Book Search)

A. L. Browne Corporation Chronicles being some account of the Ancient Corporations of East Looe and of West Looe in the County of Cornwall (1904) (Google Book Search)

Thomas Wright The history of Ludlow and its neighbourhood; forming a popular sketch of the history of the Welsh Border (1852) (Google Book Search)

F. R. Raines The rectors of Manchester [Lancashire], and the wardens of the collegiate church of that town (1885) (Google Book Search)
Chetham Society, new series, volume 5. Part 2 of 2, from 1595 onwards.

William Parker The History of Long Melford [Suffolk] (1873) (Google Book Search)

Norrison Scatcherd The history of Morley, in the West Riding of Yorkshire, including a particular account of its old chapel (1874) (Google Book Search)

Walter Money The history of the ancient town and borough of Newbury, in the county of Berks. (1887) (Google Book Search)

Cornelius Brown A History of Nottinghamshire (1891) (Google Book Search)

James Parker The Early History of Oxford, 727-1100 (1885) (Google Book Search)

R. N. Worth History of Plymouth [Devon] from the Earliest Period to the Present Time (1890) (Google Book Search)

George Fox The History of Pontefract, in Yorkshire (1827) (Google Book Search)

Henry Fishwick The history of the parish of Poulton-le-Fylde, in the county of Lancaster (1885) (Google Book Search)
Chetham Society, new series, volume 8.

E. H. Bates, ed., The particular description of the county of Somerset, drawn up by Thomas Gerard of Trent, 1633 (1900) (Google Book Search)
Somerset Record Society, volume 15. The surviving part of an early work of topography and local history.

Joseph Hammond A Cornish Parish: being an account of St. Austell, town, church, district and people (1897) (Google Book Search)

Henry Fishwick The history of the parish of St. Michaels-on-Wyre in the county of Lancaster; with an appendix containing a transcript of the registers of the chapelry of Woodplumpton for 1604 to 1613 (1891) (Google Book Search)
Chetham Society, new series, volume 25

H. T. Crofton A History of the Ancient Chapel of Stretford in Manchester Parish [Lancashire] (1899) (Google Book Search)
Chetham Society, new series, number 51. Volume 1 of 3.

James Bennett The History of Tewkesbury (1830) (Google Book Search)

Chaloner William Chute A History of The Vyne in Hampshire (1888) (Google Book Search)

Frederic W. Willmore A History of Walsall [Staffordshire] And its Neighbourhood (1887) (Google Book Search)

William Nelson Clarke Parochial Topography of the Hundred of Wanting, with other miscellaneous records relating to the County of Berks. (1824) (Google Book Search)

George T. O. Bridgeman The history of the church and manor of Wigan, in the County of Lancaster (1888) (Google Book Search)
Chetham Society, new series, volume 15. Part 1 of 4, covering the history up to 1615.

[C. Mayo] A History of Wimborne Minster; The Collegiate Church of Saint Cuthberga and King's Free Chapel at Wimborne [Dorset] (1860) (Google Book Search)

Edward Marshall The early history of Woodstock manor [Oxfordshire] and its environs, in Bladon, Hensington, New Woodstock, Blenheim (1873) (Google Book Search)

John Noake The Monastery and Cathedral of Worcester (1866) (Google Book Search)

John Holland The history, antiquities, and description of the town and parish of Worksop, in the county of Nottingham (1826) (Google Book Search)

John Parker The early history and antiquities of Wycombe, in Buckinghamshire (1878) (Google Book Search)

George A. Auden, ed., Historical and scientific survey of York and district. (1906) (Google Book Search)
Prepared for the 75th Meeting of the British Association. A collection of essays, most on historical aspects.

Modern biography and prosopography:

John Horace Round Geoffrey de Mandeville (1892) (Google Book Search)

James Anthony Froude English Seamen in the Sixteenth Century (1895) (Google Book Search)
Lectures Delivered at Oxford, Easter Terms 1893-4

Public records: Feet of fines:

Walter Rye A short calendar of the feet of fines for Norfolk in the reigns of Richard I., John, Henry III., & Edward I. (1885) (Google Book Search)

Public records: Chancery and other equity suits:

I. S. Leadam, ed., Select cases in the court of requests, A.D. 1497-1569 (1898) (Google Book Search)
Selden Society, volume 12. English transcripts, with an introduction including a list of judges.

Public records: Chancery rolls:

Calendar of the close rolls preserved in the Public Record Office. Edward I. Vol. 4. A.D. 1296-1302 (1906) (Google Book Search)
English abstracts.

Public records: Miscellaneous public records:

Frederick Devon Issues of the Exchequer; being payments made out of His Majesty's revenue during the reign of King James I. Extracted from the original records belonging to the ancient pell office ... (1836) (Google Book Search)
Record Commission. Extracts, in English.

J. M. Rigg, ed., Select pleas, starrs, and other records from the rolls of the exchequer of the Jews, A.D. 1220-1284 (1902) (Google Book Search)
Latin transcripts with English translations. Financial and judicial records relating to the Jews.

J. P. Earwaker, ed., Lancashire and Cheshire wills and inventories at Chester, with an appendix of abstracts of wills now lost or destroyed (1884) (Google Book Search)
Chetham Society, new series, volume 3. Transcripts of selected documents, 1477-1746, including wills now lost.

J. P. Earwaker, ed., Lancashire and Cheshire wills and inventories, 1572 to 1696, now preserved at Chester, with an appendix of Lancashire and Cheshire wills and inventories proved at York of Richmond, 1542 to 1649 (1893) (Google Book Search)
Chetham Society, new series, volume 28. mainly selected abstracts.

H. F. Berry, ed., Register of Wills and Inventories of the Diocese of Dublin in the Time of Archbishops Tregury and Walton, 1457-1483 (1898) (Google Book Search)
Transcript of Latin text with English translation. Also includes visitations and excommunications.

[James Raine, ed.,] Wills and inventories illustrative of the history, manners, language, statistics, &c., of the northern counties of England, from the eleventh century downwards. Part 1. (1835) (Google Book Search)
Surtees Society volume 2. Transcripts, some in Latin, from the 11th century to 1581, mainly from the Durham diocesan registry.

[Francis Collins, ed.,] Wills & administrations from the Knaresborough court rolls with index to original wills, &c., at Somerset House (1905) (Google Book Search)
Surtees Society, volume 110. Volume 2 of Knaresborough wills and associated documents, covering abstracts 1607-68, with an index of wills transferred to Somerset House, from 1640-1858.

Henry Cotton Fasti Ecclesiĉ Hibernicĉ. The succession of the prelates and members of the cathedral bodies in Ireland. (1860) (Google Book Search)
Volume 5 of 5. Illustrations, corrections and additions, with general indexes to the whole work.

William Oliver Roper Materials for the history of the church of Lancaster (1892) (Google Book Search)
Chetham Society, new series, number 26. Volume 1 of 4. First part of a Latin transcript of the cartulary of Lancaster Priory.

W. Dunn Macray, ed., Charters and documents illustrating the history of the cathedral, city, and diocese of Salisbury, in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Selected from the capitular and diocesan archives ... (1891) (Google Book Search)
Rolls Series number 97. Latin text.

George W. Marshall Le Neve's pedigrees of the knights made by King Charles II., King James II., King William III. and Queen Mary, King William alone, and Queen Anne (1873) (Google Book Search)
Harleian Society, Publications, number 8.

George Grazebrook and John Paul Rylands The visitation of Shropshire, taken in the year 1623 ... with additions from the pedigrees of Shropshire gentry taken by the heralds in the years 1569 and 1584, and other sources (1889) (Google Book Search)
Harleian Society, Publications, number 28. Part 1, covering surnames A-J.

George Grazebrook and John Paul Rylands The visitation of Shropshire, taken in the year 1623 ... with additions from the pedigrees of Shropshire gentry taken by the heralds in the years 1569 and 1584, and other sources (1889) (Google Book Search)
Harleian Society, Publications, number 29. Part 2, covering surnames K-Y.

W. Bruce Bannerman, ed., The visitations of the county of Surrey made and taken in the years 1530 ... 1572 ...and 1623 ... (1899) (Google Book Search)
Harleian Society, Publications, volume 43.

W. P. W. Phillimore, ed., The visitation of the county of Worcester made in the year 1569, with other pedigrees relating to that county from Richard Mundy's collection (1888) (Google Book Search)
Harleian Society, Publications, volume 27.

Urban and guild records:

W. Cotton and Henry Woollcombe Gleanings from the Municipal and Cathedral records relative to the history of The City of Exeter (1877) (Google Book Search)

John Lingard The Charters, granted by different sovereigns, to the burgesses of Preston, in the County Palatine of Lancaster, printed from attested copies (1821) (Google Book Search)

H. J. Moule Descriptive catalogue of the charters, minute books and other documents of the Borough of Weymouth and Melcombe Regis. A.D. 1252 to 1800. (1883) (Google Book Search)

Private letters and papers:

Appendix to the Fifteenth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts. Giving a complete list of all the reports issued, and of the collections of manuscripts examined since ... 1869 (1899) (Google Book Search)

Mary Anne Everett Green Letters of royal and illustrious ladies of Great Britain. From the commencement of the twelfth century to the close of the reign of Queen Mary. (1846) (Google Book Search)
Volume 2 of 3, covering material from the 1520s and 1530s. Transcribed into modern English, with notes.

Mary Anne Everett Green Letters of royal and illustrious ladies of Great Britain, from the commencement of the twelfth century to the close of the reign of Queen Mary. (1846) (Google Book Search)
Volume 3 of 3, covering material from 1538 to 1558. Transcribed into modern English, with notes.

Report on the Manuscripts of Mrs. Frankland-Russell-Astley, of Chequers Court, Bucks (1900) (Google Book Search)
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts

The Manuscripts of the Duke of Athole, K.T., and of the Earl of Home (1891) (Google Book Search)
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 12th Report, appendix 8

Henry Ellis Original letters illustrative of English history; including numerous royal letters: from autographs in the British Museum, and one or two other collections (1825) (Google Book Search)
Volume 1 of 3.

Henry Ellis Original letters illustrative of English history; including numerous royal letters: from autographs in the British Museum, and one or two other collections (1827) (Google Book Search)
Second series, volume 2 of 4.

Henry Ellis Original letters illustrative of English history; including numerous royal letters: from autographs in the British Museum, the State Paper Office, and one or two other collections (1846) (Google Book Search)
Third series, volume 2 of 4

Henry Ellis Original letters illustrative of English history; including numerous royal letters: from autographs in the British Museum, the State Paper Office, and one or two other collections (1846) (Google Book Search)
Third series, volume 4 of 4

The manuscripts of Sir William FitzHerbert, bart., and others (1893) (Google Book Search)
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 13th Report, appendix 6. Includes the manuscripts of the Delaval family, the Earl of Ancaster, and Lieutenant-General Lyttelton Annesley.

Isaac Herbert Jeayes Descriptive catalogue of the charters & muniments of the Gresley family, in the possession of Sir Robert Gresley, bart., at Drakelowe (1895) (Google Book Search)

The Manuscripts of the Duke of Athole, K.T., and of the Earl of Home (1891) (Google Book Search)
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, 12th Report, appendix 8

Report on the Manuscripts of the Marquess of Lothian, Preserved at Blickling Hall, Norfolk (1905) (Google Book Search)
Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts

Medieval English families on the Internet:

B:

Mrs. Napier [Sophia Elizabeth] Higgins The Bernards of Abington and Nether Winchendon (1903) (Google Book Search)
Volume 1 of 4. Thirteenth century and later - Yorkshire, Northamptonshire and other counties.

N:

John Alexander Neale Charters and records of Neales of Berkeley, Yate, and Corsham (1906) (Google Book Search)
Gloucestershire, 12th century onwards.

R:

William Greenwood The Redmans of Levens and Harewood. A contribution to the history of the Levens family of Redman and Redmayne in many of its branches (1905) (Google Book Search)
Cumberland, Westmorland and Yorkshire, 12th century and later

S:

Thomas Sinclair The Sinclairs of England (1887) (Google Book Search)
11th century and later.

U:

John Gough Nichols The Unton Inventories relating to Wadley and Faringdon, co. Berks. in the years 1596 and 1620, from the originals in the possession of Earl Ferrers. With a memoir of the family of Unton (1841) (Google Book Search)

W:

The Countess of Warwick Warwick Castle and its earls from Saxon times to the present day (1903) (Google Book Search)

Links:

Glossaries and manuals:

Charles Worthy Practical Heraldry or An Epitome of English Armory, showing how and by whom arms may be borne or acquired, how pedigrees may be traced or family histories ascertained (1889) (Google Book Search)

Wrenthorpe History Web [near Wakefield, West Yorkshire] (Edward Green)
Includes information on the medieval history of Wrenthorpe, in the sections on
"First 600 Years" and "Wrenthorpe in Old Local History Books"

Funeral monuments:
Index to
Monumental Brass Society Bulletins 1-100 1972-2005 (William Lack)
Index in three sections: (1) to churches mentioned; (2) general index to the bulletins;
(3) to books and important papers reviewed or described; the index itself is in PDF format

Monumental brasses on the Internet:
Monumental Brass Society, brass of the month:

Luttrell
The Luttrells (Glenn Luttrell)
Information from various sources on medieval Luttrells, in the sections on
"Early Luttrells", "England" and "Ireland"

Links:

Societies and journals:

Dugdale Society [Warwickshire]
Includes a listing of publications still available.
The Society's publications
are included in the Royal Historical Society's
Bibliography of British and Irish History

Heraldry:
European Rolls of Arms of the Thirteenth Century
(Brian Timms, Studies in Heraldry)
Lord Marshal's Roll, Part 4 and
Part 5

25 September 2005:

New material

I am very grateful to Guy Vincent for sending me two images of a
Lincolnshire charter of 1378,
which were kindly provided by the charter's owner.
The charter records the grant of half the manor of Loveden, in the parish of Tydd St Mary,
by Roger de Kirketon, knight, Robert Bernak, John de Haugh
and Thomas de la Launde, to Grace the daughter of Richard the son of John de Roos of Tydd.
It is particularly interesting because it includes very detailed information of the lands concerned
and the names of many tenants, including the "native" tenants whose bodies were included in the conveyance.
The heraldic seals of the four grantors have also survived intact.
I have added a translation of the text and some notes on the heraldry.

New links

A brief guide to medieval English genealogy:

Church records:
English
Monastic Archives (University College, London)
See above for details.

Alice Dryden, ed.,
Memorials
of Old Northamptonshire
Includes a detailed account of the monumental effigies of Northamptonshire,
and the texts of various 16th-century muster rolls.

P. M. Eastman,
An Hour Among the Echoes
of Northampton Castle
Text of a lecture given at Northampton, 1879.

P. J. Harris. and P. W. Hartop,
Northamptonshire,
its Land and its People [1950]

Arthur Mee,
Kings
England: Northamptonshire

R. M. Serjeantson, The
Castle Of Northampton
Text originally published in Northamptonshire
Natural History Society & Field Club,
vol. 14 (1907).

R. M. Serjeantson, The
Hospital of St. Thomas, Northampton
Text of a paper read at the Annual Meeting of the Architectural Excursions Club in 1909

R. M. Serjeantson, A History of Delapre
Abbey, Northampton (1909)
Text originally published in Journal of the Northamptonshire Natural History
Society,
vol. 16 (1912).

R. M. Serjeantson, Some
Notes upon the History of Northampton
Text of a paper read to the Royal Archaeological Institute at Northampton in 1912.

R. M. Serjeantson, The
Hospital of St. John, Northampton
Text originally published in Journal of the Northamptonshire Natural History
Society,
vol. 16 (1912).

R. M. Serjeantson, The
Leper Hospitals of Northampton
Detailed account with illustrations, originally published in Northamptonshire Natural History Society & Field Club,
vol. 18, no 141 (1915).

Joan Wake and W. A. Pantin,
Delapre Abbey,
its History and Architecture (Northamptonshire Record Society, 1959)

A. P. White,
The
Story of Northampton (1914)

Towcester, Northamptonshire: George Baker,
History
and antiquities of the county of Northampton (1830) (Northamptonshire
by Postcards and Books)
Excerpt relating to Towcester

Public records: taxation and other lists:London:

Indexes to R. G. Lang's transcript of the 1582 subsidy (excluding aliens and strangers)
- already on the British History Online website -
are also available at Lay
Subsidy Returns for 1582 (Alan H. Nelson, University of Berkeley).

Lay Subsidy Returns for 1576
(Alan H. Nelson, University of Berkeley)
Transcripts and indexes of unpublished subsidy rolls, in progress.

Lay Subsidy Returns
for London, Middlesex, Surrey (north) 1593-1600
(Alan H. Nelson, University of Berkeley)
Transcripts and indexes of unpublished subsidy rolls, in progress.
Aliens and strangers are not included; the indexes current contain more
than 20,000 names.

Alice Dryden, ed.,
Memorials
of Old Northamptonshire
Includes the texts of various 16th-century muster rolls.

Yorkshire:
Some of the Subsidy Rolls (Poll Tax) for the year 1379
(Peter Nelson/Colin Hinson, GENUKI)
Transcribed lists of names from The Yorkshire Archaeological and Topographical Journals,
mainly from the West Riding, the Ainsty and Howdenshire in the East Riding.

Charters:
Catalogue
of Wolley Charters (British Library/Royal Holloway College, University of London)
Searchable catalogue of a collection of 1039 charters, mainly from the 13th and 14th centuries,
relating to Derbyshire, neighbouring counties, and the North of England.

Victoria County History:

The articles on religious houses from the following volumes
(British History Online)

Hertfordshire, volume 4

Lincolnshire, volume 2

Staffordshire, volume 3

Suffolk, volume 2

Wiltshire, volume 3

Monumental brasses on the Internet:
Monumental Brass Society, brasses of the month:

Colchester:
Colchester Family History
(Thirzah Brown)
Detailed account of the Colchester family of Barking, Suffolk,
15th century and later, compiled from The Colchester Family History, by Giles Colchester (2003)

Links:

General links:

Google Print
An index to the contents of printed books. Currently most of the content
is from recently printed books, but a large-scale project of scanning older material
is in progress, and Google intends to make works whose copyright has expired
freely available in their entirety.

SOGCAT [Library Catalogue]
(Society of Genealogists, London)

19th-century Ordnance Survey maps of Great Britain are now available on the
British History Online website
(in addition to the existing Old Maps website)

Your Maps Online (Your Old Books and Maps)
Scans of old maps, mainly covering the English counties.
The images are free to download, and a collection is also offered for sale on CD.

Heraldry:
European Rolls of Arms of the Thirteenth Century
(Brian Timms, Studies in Heraldry)
Lord Marshal's Roll, Part 1,
Part 2 and
Part 3

Societies and journals:
A partial
list of contents of the Northamptonshire Record Society's journal, Northamptonshire Past and Present,
covering vols 1-9, 51-56, is available at Northamptonshire
by Postcards and Books.